In the United States of America, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates wireless telecommunications companies that provide wireless telecommunications services. Wireless telecommunications is a group of telecommunications services under the heading of commercial mobile radio service (CMRS), as defined by the FCC. CMRS includes cellular, personal communications services (PCS), mobile satellite services (MSS) and enhanced specialized mobile radio (ESMR). Presently, CMRS does not include other forms of “wireless” communications such as paging and traditional dispatch. The FCC's authority over the wireless industry includes licensing, certain technical aspects of wireless service, timeframes in which service must be made available in given areas, and the provision of the 911 emergency answering service (i.e., 911 service), including basic 911 and enhanced 911 (i.e., E911).
The Department of Revenue of Washington State, USA provides an excellent summary of wireline and wireless 911 service in their document entitled: “Enhanced 911 Funding Study.” This study is presently located at the internet web site: http://dor.wa.gov/index.asp?/pub/e911. The most relevant sections, including the executive summary, the introduction, chapter 1, chapter 2 text and drawings, and chapter 3 text and chart, have been printed out and provided with an information disclosure statement for the present patent application as a permanent reference to the present patent application. This entire study, including, but not limited to chapters 1, 2 and 3 along with the referenced drawings and charts, is herein incorporated into the present patent application by reference not only as a description for the background of the present invention, but also as a description for the detailed description of the present invention. Further, anything disclosed in this study, such as any term, concept, feature, service, drawing, chart, method, apparatus, system, etc. or portion thereof, may be used in combination with anything disclosed in the present patent application for support of any claims in the present or related patent applications.
The FCC requires that cellular telephones implementing E911 phase two must provide automatic location identification (ALI) to a public safety answering point (PSAP). To meet the ALI requirement a cellular network-based solution, a handset-based solution and a combination of a cellular-based solution and a handset-based solution have been proposed. Examples of cellular network-based solutions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,068, U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,866, U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,329, U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,948, U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,717, U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,040, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,964. Examples of the handset-based solutions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,482 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,147. An example of a combination solution is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,660.
Once the E911, phase two system is deployed, there will be a demand for location-based services and applications beyond the E991 service. However, it may not be safe or private to have the location of a cellular telephone known to strangers or third parties. For example, a mother would like to be able to locate her child using the location identification capability of the child's cellular telephone, but would not want other people to locate her child without her permission especially if her child is lost.
Accordingly, there is a need for a location privacy manager for a cellular telephone with location identification capability to provide safety and privacy for a user of the cellular telephone on a discretionary basis.